A Rewritten Fate
by Epsilon Zeta
Summary: My "Extreme" mini-series in one package. One of the CCS worlds is about to be judged by Shadow, the Destroyer...
1. The Extreme

Author's Notes: This is a fic where nobody lives happily ever after. If you are a person who loves sappy endings, leave now.   
  
Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Cardcaptors. I own Shadow. Some quotes used in this story are written by the good people at Wizards of the Coast, Inc.  
  
The Extreme  
  
Sakura hugged the big, furry stuffed animal that Li had won at an event. "Thanks for getting this for me." He smirked. "At least the stuffed animal will have some company with this fellow." For Sakura, this was truly a time to be alive. She has a wonderful family, good friends and someone close to her heart.   
  
The carnival was in the city for a week and Sakura wanted to go. How she got Li to come with her (since Li isn't that type of person), her trump card...the puppy dog face. It actually appeared that Li might be getting fond of this type of atmosphere. The night would have been perfect except for a mysterious, powerful aura that appeared out of nowhere.  
  
"Sakura! Did you feel that?" She nodded. "It doesn't feel like an ordinary Clow card...could it be something else?" They left the carnival and headed towards the source of the power.  
  
In the woods, they saw a stranger, dressed in Li's robes but he wore red and had boots. He wore a red mask. The white ponytail, red eyes and part of his face were the only parts that were not clothed other than his hands.   
  
"What in the world?" Sakura was about to confront the stranger when Li stopped her. "Quiet!!! We have to know more about this power!!" The stranger got up and headed towards them.  
  
"Who...what are you? Why are you dressed like Li?" The stranger made no attempt to answer those questions. "Are you the defenders of this world?" The two Cardcaptors slowly nodded. The stranger raised a whip. "I'm Shadow, the preserver of purity. In order to prevent this world from the corruption that will occur, I must destroy it."  
  
"WHAT?! You're insane!!!" Sakura summoned her baton while Li had his sword in his hand. Shadow used his whip, took both weapons and snapped them in half. "Purity is rare. It must be preserved while it still exists. If I destroy this world, then the purity will be sent to the hierarchy in the heavens where no force can corrupt it."  
  
"What do you mean corruption? Can humanity decide for itself whether it will be corrupt or not? We each make our own choices and face the consequences that come with them." The entity shook his head. "Sometimes, the decision is already made or cannot be made at all. Humanity has tried to push down its primal instincts to survive. For most, the instincts are dormant but for others, the instincts take full control. I've seen it happen."  
  
"Isn't there some way to destroy corruption?" Shadow stared at Sakura in disbelief. "Evil and corruption can never be destroyed. As long as there are dark instincts within people, there will always be evil. There is no true embodiment of evil or purity."  
  
"Why must you take extreme actions simply to preserve purity?" "It is because the hierarchy needs the purity to preserve good lives in their plane of existence. There are an infinite amount of lives there. Billions alone come from one nation of an alternate reality. I can preserve a plane of existence that contains the lives of an infinite amount of worlds, by taking the lives and the purity of one world."   
  
Shadow paused. "Soldiers will always endanger their lives to defend many other lives. How about this world? In 99.4 % of the peoples' hearts, they feel they are soldiers. Your world has been in many wars, in conflict with each other and with other humanoids who share this dimension. Corruption has indeed taken place but it has also created some form of righteousness as well. This is the opportunity the soldiers have been waiting for. To defend. There is little of your world that can truly be called home. Which is worse: nothing to defend, or no one to defend it?"  
  
Sakura and Li could only be stunned at Shadow's words. The entity shot them one more question. "Do you stand ready to die for your world? I know there are many people who will stand with you if you do." With that, he flew into the air and aimed his hand at the core of the planet. He waited for a moment to commemorate the beings about to die. With that, the world became nothing more than chunks of planet, floating around the solar system.   
  
  



	2. Honor the Fallen

Author's Notes: I chose the American spelling of 'Honour' because the British version doesn't look right. No offense to British or Canadian readers.   
  
Disclaimers: Cardcaptors belong to CLAMP. Some quotations used in the story were originally written by those poetic guys at Wizards of the Coast, Inc. I only own Shadow.  
  
Honor the Fallen  
  
Earth. Once it has been thriving with life. Now it shared the same fate as the planet that forced Strider to act on behalf of Nemesis...total destruction. The souls of the people have been sent to the hierarchy in the next plane of existence.   
  
Will I always have to do this? This question rang through Shadow's mind over and over. One day, Nemesis will catch up to him and give him what he deserved. Perhaps it will be in a similar form as Earth 692, rallying around their banner and uniting in their name.   
  
The entity simply floated around, trying to sort out the events, replaying in his mind. He had always felt a bit of remorse but not as much as this. The purity in the world he recently destroyed was concentrated around the girl with emerald eyes...Sakura.  
  
He saw a small wooden staff, floating in the debris of the planet. It appeared to belong to Li's family. There were Chinese inscriptions on it. They went like this:  
  
Simple wooden staff  
Made from life, protecting life,  
Stronger than cold steel.  
  
This was the same philosophy the Silkenfist Fighters went by. They were true warriors, beaming with purity. They created the Silkenfist Order a few years after they banded together. Their oath played itself in the head of the Destroyer.  
  
Hands weave life and death;  
Intertwining spirits knit  
Tapestries and shrouds.  
  
Shadow tried to put a silence to those philosophies by destroying every last member of the order. When he stood above the last fighter, the fighter breathed out his last words, "Whoever obeys God and His Prophet, fears God and does his duty to Him, will surely find success."  
  
Those words haunted Shadow's memory for a century. How can something like this haunt a powerful entity like this? Is there truly a God, a being higher than both him and Strider?  
  
The defenders of this world had looked familiar to Shadow. Then he recognized them as something he had destroyed before back in the land of Llanowar.   
  
flashback  
  
"Does it burn, elf?" The Destroyer narrowed his eyes even more as he prepared to snap the neck of the fallen Llanowar Druid. "Do you wish you had never raised arms against me?"  
  
The young boy's amber eyes stared right into Shadow's fiery red eyes. "This forest means more to us than our own kin. The loss of a tree is like the loss of a child." Shadow snorted. "Prepare to join the ranks of the fallen..."  
  
Another druid worked feverishly to prepare the ritual. If it works...perhaps the land will have a chance of survival. With that, she sacrificed herself and her lifeforce started to replenish the trees. Her emerald eyes saw the great forest beam with life once more before she embraced the darkness.   
  
In a few moments, the souls of Llanowar were harvested. Shadow was about to destroy the land when he noticed the forest. It wept for the loss of its children. For the first time, Shadow felt remorse.  
  
end flashback  
  
This feeling kept coming up for every world he destroyed. He finally decided to leave a legacy of each planet that was sacrificed for the hierarchy.   
  
"Captain!! Take a look at this!!" The Janudais captain looked at the remains of the Earth and the message that was sent out on all frequencies.   
  
'May the River claim the bodies of this world, wherever they lie.'  
  



	3. Into the Demon's Hand

Author's Notes: Enjoy my second sequel to 'The Extreme'!  
  
Disclaimers: Cardcaptors belong to CLAMP, Radiant, Archangel belongs to Wizards of the Coast. The original Hellspawn concept belongs to Todd McFarlane and Image Comics. (by the way, the name of the story is based on the name of a Spawn video game produced by Capcom for the Sega Dreamcast) I only own Shadow.  
  
Into the Demon's Hand  
  
All they could see was nothing but white light. Sakura and Li were standing in the middle of nowhere. "Where are we, Li?" The Chinese boy started to search his memory of what Shadow had told them before their world was destroyed. "This must be the Hierarchy."  
  
"What is going to happen to us? What about Madison and Chelsea and all the others? What is going to happen to them?" Li put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I'm sure they're fine. We just have to find them."  
  
"Easier said than done. We don't know anything of this place. It's not like a door is going to appear and lead us somewhere." Suddenly, the clouds began to shift, revealing an opening golden gate. Li just gave Sakura an intriguing look before the both of them went through the doors.  
  
"Initial scans complete. Both subjects have a large amount of purity." The priest looked up to see the archangel. "What should we do, Radiant?" She turned to where the cardcaptors were on the screen. "We'll look at them separately. I take the cherry blossom and you take the little wolf." The priest had a confused look on his face.  
  
Radiant sighed. "In the Japanese language, Sakura means cherry blossom, Syaoran means little wolf. Now do your job already." She left to conduct her test on Sakura. The priest tapped in a few commands to initiate his test on Li.  
  
Li blinked. One minute, he and Sakura were walking through the gate. The next minute, he was back in Hong Kong with his family. "Meilin?! Mom...?" The woman looked at her son with clear disappointment written across her face. "How could you fail us? We have trained you ever since you were old enough to walk. We thought you were worthy of being a soldier and a cardcaptor. Clearly, those responsibilities were too much for you."  
  
"You were weakened by that girl, Li. I thought you were stronger than that. You believe you are strong but in reality, you are another lovestruck fool," spat Meilin. Anger began to boil in Li's blood.  
  
"A true soldier can fight beyond thought, beyond fear and especially beyond mercy. I had hoped I had taught you better but what can I expect of someone like yourself? Perhaps we can start over...once we eliminate your chief weakness." The boy's mind began to race. 'What have they done to Sakura?'  
  
A messenger stepped up and handed a scroll to the elderly woman. She opened it and smiled. "Now your mind should be clear of all distractions. Especially from the Clow mistress." In a fury, Li grabbed his sword and charged.   
  
A flash of light appeared and Li was back in the hierarchy. Sakura was beside him, unconscious. Li opened his eyes and saw that a priest was holding him by his collar. The priest cast Li to the ground. "His soul is defective. We must scrap it."  
  
Radiant shook her head. "If his soul is scrapped, we would be wasting purity. I expected better of you, Li Syaoran. Your love for the girl is strong. So strong that you would break one of the ten commandments to protect her." She started draining all of Li's purity from his soul. Finally she picked him up and sent him to another dimension.   
  
The priest stood over and looked at where Li fell. "You decided to send him to Malbogia?" The archangel shrugged. "There are only four types of demons humans can become: Hellspawn, Werewolf, Vampire and Zombie. Of all of them, the Hellspawn suffers the most."   
  
When Li awoke, he found himself different. Cold. Empty. He stumbled around the alley until he found a puddle. He stared at his reflection. The costume of a Hellspawn. The only difference between this one and the American Hellspawn (Al Simmons) is that Li's cape is green.  
  
He still remembered everything. Radiant was not merciful enough to remove the pain. And now, he is doomed to walk the earth, knowing that he will never be able to find his cherry blossom again.  
  
Am I good or what? If there are a ton of reviews, I might consider putting up a third and final sequel to this story. 


	4. One Exit

Author's Notes: I decided to go through with the final sequel to "The Extreme." Enjoy!!  
  
Disclaimers: Cardcaptors belongs to CLAMP, original Hellspawn concept belongs to Todd McFarlane and Image Comics, Radiant, some quotes and other stuff belongs to Wizards of the Coast, Inc. I borrowed the zombie concept from some movie. 'Night of the Living Dead II' or something. They were the ones to introduce the concept of pain making the hunger go away. That concept belongs to them, not me. Don't sue!!  
  
One Exit  
  
She could feel the gentleness of the clouds that surrounded her. It would have made any other person feel excited but she didn't care. To her, the clouds were the seaweed of a vile, putrid swamp. The swamp known as the Hierarchy. 'They had no right. No one deserves to suffer that much...not even Radiant.'   
  
Radiant observed Sakura closely. It was a matter of time before she would take action against the Hierarchy. After all, they did send her boyfriend to a life of eternal suffering. Speaking of the boy, he appeared to be causing trouble down there, according to the surveillance report she received. "He's killing people that threaten the dopplegangers of his family, his friends and the cherry blossom. Those souls are strengthening Malbogia's forces."   
  
She mentally scolded herself for releasing a soul without purity back into one of the worlds. It's time to step in and set things straight. Radiant closed her eyes and concentrated. Moments later, a knight appeared on a white horse. He wore gray armour and a white cape. He held a lance in his hand. "You summoned me, Radiant?"  
  
She nodded. "A Hellspawn is sending souls to Malbogia's army. It's bad enough with the American one but with another Hellspawn to gather souls, Malbogia will eventually become invincible. We must stop this. Go to the mages. They will equip you with the protection you require." The knight nodded and left.  
  
Sakura went over to the archangel. "Having problems?" she asked with an icy tone. Radiant smiled. "You shouldn't have to worry yourself about such matters, child." The Clow mistress glared at Radiant. "Sakura, you've reached your final destination. Shouldn't you be enjoying the atmosphere?"  
  
"There's nothing here to make my stay worthwhile." A frown replaced Radiant's smile. "It all comes down to...him, doesn't it?" Sakura turned away, avoiding the archangel's disapproving look. "How can you love a demon?" Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes. "How can you turn him into one?!"   
  
"His actions spoke for itself. He would have broken the rules with his erratic behaviour. You are young and naive. One day, you will understand." Sakura clenched her fists. "Understand?! What is there to understand?!? All I understand is that you've given an innocent boy something that nobody deserves!!!"  
  
The archangel felt the level of purity in Sakura turn towards the boy. Her love for him is pure but that purity has taken whatever other traits of purity she had once when she was alive. Radiant's eyes flashed. "Go, then," the angel spat at Sakura, "and leave this world to those who truly care."  
  
A green vortex opened before the Clow mistress. "I will send you to the same planet to reunite with your boyfriend. Your demon class will be zombie. At least you will get a moment's happiness before my Defender of Law destroys the both of you." Sakura stared at the whirlpool before her. 'This would be the first day of the rest of my life.' She threw herself into the vortex.  
  
Her eyes slowly opened to the alley. She could feel the flesh of the people walking past her. Delicious, mouth-watering human flesh. 'No!!! I can't...but the hunger...' She collapsed onto a sharp piece of glass. 'The pain...it makes the hunger go away...'  
  
Another storm is preparing itself and people were scarmbling to get to shelters. 'For crying out loud, it's only water!' Li stood on top of the building, his green cape flapping in the wind. He remembered the time he was a little boy. He had to spend hours in the rain, searching for Meilin's bird.   
  
"Excuse me, are you Li Syaoran?" The Hellspawn moved his head slightly. "Who wants to know?" The voice chuckled. "I still see that Radiant has kept your sense of humour intact." Radiant!! That name!!! He whirled around to see a knight on a horse. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
The knight pointed his lance at Li. "The one that will correct Radiant's mistake of sending you here in the first place." He might have accepted his death in the beginning but he had seen families grow and flourish...especially the family his doppleganger shared with his Sakura. "Doesn't Radiant have better things to do than to concern herself about me?"  
  
"It is not my place to question Radiant's rule. I exist to enforce her will." The horse started galloping towards him. Li sent out his chains to greet the knight but they had no effect. "What?!" The lance sent Li over the building.  
  
A huge crash was heard as the Hellspawn fell into a dumpster. "What...? How...?" The knight's horse leapt down several buildings before it landed near Li. "The mages have changed my protection from Fire magic to Death magic. You reek of Death magic...as does your companion."  
  
Li gave a start as he saw Sakura's body, hanged upon a cross. She was pale and weak, her clothes ripped and shredded. "What did you do to her?!?" The knight prepared to charge. "The same thing I'm going to do to you." A bolt of lightning then struck the knight from the sky. He let out a scream before disintegrating.   
  
He quickly freed Sakura from the cross. "Sakura?! Speak to me!!!" She stirred and gave a weak smile. "Li...I found you..." He cradled her close, his cape surrounded her for protection. "Radiant turned you into a zombie?! I swear that bitch is going down for this."  
  
Sakura took one of Li's hands and slit her wrist. "The pain makes the hunger go away...kind of like us being together makes the pain go away..." For the first time since landing upon that world, Li felt whole.  
  
That's it!!! The finale to my "Extreme" mini-series!! Please review and tell me what you think!! Later!!  



End file.
